eilonwy77 wrote:I see that the last post on this topic was two months ago, so I hope this isn't necroposting. But as the newest new person around, I just thought I'd say that sometimes the topics that you think are old hat are all new and strange to someone else.... like the whole bley thing. It took me forever to figure out what people were talking about. I think it's conceivable that some novice might find a discussion about that, forget what the date stamp is, and post some reaction to it. It's not meant to be irritating to others.

A lot of internet forums will get mad at you if you do start a new topic on something that has previously been posted -- they'd prefer you to resurrect the old post. I guess the culture of different forums is just something to be figured out with experience.

And I know you think it's idiotic, but if I hypothetically had a creation that was years old, and someone posted on it just to tell me it was cool, it'd still make my day. And other newer people might get to be exposed to that creation and like it too. Just possibly.

No, a two month old post certainly isn't necroposting. That was odd that your post disappeared, not sure what happened there. We do prefer that people add to existing threads, even old ones, rather than start a million different conversations on the same topic. On very rare occasions a problem arises when someone, most usually a brand new member who is (sorry to all you responsible TFOLs out there) at the younger end of our age range, comes in and brings up a very large number of old threads. If they were actually adding new content, that would be a very different thing, but the hypothetical poster is simply adding one line, or even one word, responses. The implication is that they are not really trying to participate in the conversation, and perhaps they are simply trying to inflate their post count (for some reason this seems important to some people - I know, I have the largest post count, so I guess I'm king of the world in their eyes). The negative here, as noted above, is that this can push newer topics off the front page. This would be frustrating if, for instance, you just posted a new MOC but got no feedback because your new thread was displaced by twenty old threads. In a backlash to some past instances of this, there are some older, grumpier members of the forum (casting the first stone at myself here, as I am both old and grumpy - Get off my lawn!), who become prickly at any sign of necropostery. Anyway, I think the key thing I was trying to emphasize at the start of this thread is that there is a happy medium. Necropostery is not, in and of itself, a bad thing, but should be done in moderation and with an eye to enhancing the conversation.

There are some old topics that will particularly raise hackles. The whole gray/bley thing was really contentious and people spent a lot of time fighting about it. Some people left forums and even the hobby over this. Most of us have found a way to live in the world as it now exists (some of us only use the older shade, some have switched over, some mix the two colors), and would rather not have the same fight all over again. I forget the term, but someone made up a word that was even more cumbersome than 'necroposting' that basically meant 'dig up the dead horse only to beat it all over again'.

It's just interesting seeing the culture on different forums. I spent a fair amount of time on the Babycenter.com forums while I was pregnant, and there were sooo many posts, and people would just "bump" their topic back up by writing the word "bump" as their next comment. Actually, seeing as how this was a pregnancy forum, that's kind of funny. I tried to be a bit more sneaky about it and would try to add on some legitimate thought to bump my topic back up if I felt it hadn't had enough attention (or any).

Now I should shut up and observe the culture on this board for awhile, lest I make any newcomer faux pas.

[I wanted to go over to Seattle last October, but my baby was too young and I mostly only cared about DUPLO at the time... maybe this year I'll fanagle the husband into taking the kids over and at least visiting the public days. It helps that his best friend lives there and they could go play video games or watch wrestling or diss the Huskies or something... not that I would ever condone such behavior. ]

eilonwy77 wrote:maybe this year I'll fanagle the husband into taking the kids over and at least visiting the public days.

If you do, make sure and let us know. My wife and I will both be attending (my mother-in-law is watching the kids) and we'd be more than happy to show you around. There will be plenty of other CCers there as well.

As a very new member myself and a TOFL (14) I know that alot of times I'll see a moc and not wanting to repeat things others have said and just say something like "that's so cool!!!1!!111112" and as long as it's not done on a massive scale I don't really see the problem with it. And I'm sure if someones creation was resurected with positive feedback they would be happy with it, I know I would appreciate it. And I understand where some of you are coming from. I know on other forums I frequently see new posts and then a reply with 19 links to other threads that the issue has been discussed on and a message saying "use the search function next time". And for a new member that can be eye opening and sort of upsetting.. Well that's just my opinion. Thanks!~